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I hesitate to post this link because its NOT McDougall-friendly in terms of no added oils, nuts, fatty foods, but it IS vegan and gluten-free. It might be a starting point for some recipe modifications or ideas...

http://getoffgluten.blogspot.com/http:/ ... gspot.com/

ETA: after reviewing several of these recipes, I think they can be easily modified to be McDougall-compliant! JoAnn is health-conscious in her own right and well-read - she even dedicates one of her recipes to Dr. Esselstyn!

Her bread recipe seems great though

It is! I made it several times for my family before I let my starter go bad. We're not regular bread eaters anymore (even the gf kind doesn't agree with us), so bread is more of a "treat" for us.

I can relate on this, honestly. Recently, I discovered my entire family is pretty sensitive to wheat. Wheat does seem to be everywhere. The list of other carbs don't exactly make my mouth water. My daughter is almost 16 months and I had thought she would eat anything I put in front of her, but she will not eat oats and I don't blame her. I'm going to continue working with it to try to make it more appetizing, but the problem is that I only know of oats being cooked the way my grandmother cooked them, with tons of evaporated and condensed milk--yuck! Anyway, my next attempt will be with apple. We both love apple, so maybe she'll enjoy that. We don't use sugar, so it does make it a bit harder trying to figure things out.

Potato gets boring after so long. Sweet potato is much the same. Taro root is hard to find. Add to this that all these things, from what I've read, are bad for the gut anyway. I've been very extreme about diet in the past, but if I try to eliminate every little thing I find out is bad in any way...I'll basically be living on beans, squash, and non-starchy vegetables. Doesn't open the door to many recipes. I feel forced to keep potatoes and the like in our lives because wheat has gone out the door and, as I said, it's everywhere. I could buy gluten free flour and make my own bread. I've made bread before so I'm sure I can make it work, but the flour used would be made up of the same things I've found are not good for the gut. What a pickle.

When we eat out, it seems the only food I can really get into is Mexican. It's a good thing we rarely eat out or I'd be extremely annoyed by it all.

Hi,

I am gluten-free, low fat, vegan, dairy free, corn and soy free!!

Yep. And I still eat around 2000 cal per day of healthy food. Here's what helps me.

I eat:
puffed millet
millet, quinoa, rice, occasional teff
sweet potatoes cooked in microwave
(occasionally potatoes but not my favorite)
lots and lots of different veggies
lots of different fruit (most days 3-4 pieces)
occasional beans/lentils

Sauces/condiments:
gluten free bouillon (occasional)
diced tomatoes
tomato sauce
balsamic vinegar, wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar etc.
braggs liquid aminos (soy substitute)
dried herbs and spices (literally have about 35 bottles)
garlic
onions
salsa
occasional organic ketchup or BBQ sauce
nutritional yeast flakes

Here are some typical simple meals for me:
puffed millet with sliced up bananas, sweet potato
millet with nutritional yeast, lots of veggies, apple
quinoa with lots of veggies, fruit, salad

More complex meals:
Red lentil soup
Lentil stew
Bean curry over brown rice
Brown rice, veggies, beans with tons of garlic/onion/spices
Vegetarian chili
split pea soup
stew (with beans, sauerkraut, potatoes, veggies, tomatoes)
BBQ beans over potatoes

What I do about eating out:
It sucks. I hate going to restaurants now. This is disappointing and stressful to me and I wish I could give you an easy solution. I think it's one of the things you need to grieve and realize that it's not worth being sick for...it is the 'normal' thing to do, but look at how unhealthy 'normal' people are. That said, you can occasionally use these family dinners/outings as treat days (occasional meaning Christmas dinner with family, birthday cake etc.).

I bring all my own food with me to work/church/errands etc. so I'm never stuck without something to eat. I bought a little thermos bag and carry some grain, veggies, fruit at all times.

Other:
I really avoid all gluten-free substitutes. I don't buy GF bread, cookies etc.. Most of them are very unhealthy and they are all extremely expensive. I very occasionally buy a cake mix or something for special occasions, just like a non-GF McDougaller might do, but they are not staples in my household.

All junk and tempting gluten-free substitute foods are not in my household. My husband actually appreciates this as well (God bless him- he's wonderfully supportive) and he has lost 15lbs doing the regular McDougall program so far (he still eats some dried fruit, nuts, soymilk, bread and pretzels).

Please feel free to PM me if you'd like some specific recipes. My husband is not GF, but he eats mostly my foods (because I don't cook twice!). My collection of recipes has been whittled down to what he and I both agree are winning recipes. They make decent-sized batches and we always have plenty of leftovers to eat for the next few days or to freeze.

Hope this helps!
lfwfv

This describes my diet (!), although I'm back and forth on the corn. I noticed you listed Bragg's as a soy substitute. It is made from soy beans! It has been SO hard giving up that flavoring! But we keep adapting!

ahh, right. The soy avoidance is pretty recent for me and i haven't needed soy sauce since the change. I'll keep that in mind if I'm ever tempted to use some Braggs! thanks!

The only thing I know about millet is my birds loved it... Really clueless there.

The only rice I ever enjoyed was jasmine rice. Is that even healthy? I haven't made the time to read about it at all.

Don't honestly know anything about quinoa.

We generally avoid gf bread. But we do indulge in bread-like things on occasion. We make pancakes and chapatis using brown rice flour and garbanzo bean flour. We make dosas using brown rice flour and quinoa flour.

It was great to read your post. It sounded very familiar. My family has been known to say, "we'd have you over for dinner, but we don't know what "you people' eat!

Iv'e been Mcd'ing for a few yrs now. I Remember in the beginning thinking how in the world will I survive without my steady diet of fat sugar and candy?
(at 15 I figured out I could eat and stay slim if I just ate the foods that I liked, which were of course, fat sugar and candy. (cut out the regular meals basically!)The resulting health crisis at age 43 was not pretty!)

Anyway, after a few years of McD'ing I can honestly tell you I DO NOT miss the fat sugar & processed foods. Once in a while I will eat them just to see if they are still tasty to me, and about 99% of the time they are not!

Big change from someone who ate an apple fritter a day all through college!

Over the last year I noticed a 'reaction' to gluten, so have cut way down eating anything with gluten. I remember thinking the same thing you described. What the heck am I going to eat now!

I've spent a lot of time searching for inspiration and recipes on the net.
But, honestly, most of it was a 'mind set' change. Deciding to focus on a few things I enjoyed and knew were OK and focusing on how my health was the most important thing.

As far as eating out, hardly ever do it, too hard to find decent food.

I think the most important thing is be kind to yourself, try not to stress over it, do what you can do and try not to worry about the rest.

Thanks for your post. Wishing you much success. Kris

Lucy, Way back in 2000 I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis (Male, age 36) which then turned into, Lupus and then to Scleroderma (i.e. the diagnoses according to the rheumatologists). I decided not to take any of the steroids or gold salts and never go back to another rheumatologist and go down fighting. The info on the 'Net was not as available as it is now, but this is what I did:
- replace mercury /silver filings with ceramic (quit a lot).
- extract a root canal.
- went on a fish, potato, carrots, etc boring and gluten /yeast free diet.

I started to feel real improvement after about four months. Stayed on the diet for about 6 months after and felt so good that I returned to eating crap again. Gradually over the last 3 years I have been deteoriating, Now I have started getting tendinitis all over: elbow, shoulder, ankle... I made up my mind two days ago. I'm going back to that diet whatever it takes.

Dexter Mahadeo, Trinidad and Tobago

Just an FYI... some restaurants do offer a Gluten Free Menu. Outback Steak house has a great one... and you may be able to include the MacDougall principles .. I haven't seen the menu for a number of years but you could research online for places that offer Gluten Free Menus and see if you may be able to further tweek them for the MacDougall part...

Good luck